Stout defense leads Naperville Central

Updated: October 14, 2011 11:35PM

All season long, Naperville Central has been steadfast in its offensive capability and in its belief in its offensive philosophy, despite some well-documented struggles.

The past three weeks hadn’t be very kind to the Redhawks as recorded season-lows in offensive output in two of three weeks, while failing to record at least 250 total yards in any of the three contests.

However, on Friday night, at the most opportune time, Naperville Central finally got a chance to show off said explosive offensive capability in the process of accomplishing a season-long goal.

Behind a great night from senior running back Matt Randolph and another stout effort from its defense, Naperville Central became playoff-eligible with a 36-26 victory over crosstown rival Naperville North at North Central College.

Falling 18 yards shy of the career-high 271 rushing yards he set in a 48-7 rout of Glenbard East in Week 3, Randolph torched the Huskies’ defense to the tune of 253 yards on 18 carries while matching his career-high for rushing touchdowns in the game with five, first set back in Week 3 against Glenbard East.

“This is Naperville North. This is way bigger. We look forward to playing this game all year and this is huge,” Randolph said.

Eliminating Naperville North from the DuPage Valley Conference race with a sudden burst, Randolph’s last three touchdowns on the evening came in about a three-minute span late in the fourth quarter, beginning with a 58-yard jaunt that erased a four-point deficit and gave Naperville Central (5-3, 4-2 DuPage Valley) the lead for good with 5:28 left in the game.

“Our offensive line did a great job of sealing the edge and there were receivers blocking downfield,” Randolph said. “Our defense kept bailing us out all night with turnovers. They did a great job.”

Only having turned the ball over four times coming into the game, the Huskies turned the ball over six times Friday night against the Redhawks, including two interceptions from backup quarterback, junior Johnny Brown, and two fumbles from senior running back Dan Puknaitis.

Hampering matters for Naperville North was the loss of starting quarterback Tyler Gehr, who got hurt on a 16-yard run in the second quarter and returned for the opening series in the second half before deferring to Brown for the rest of the night.

“Johnny did some great things. The last drive, we were just working on our backup quarterback in a two-minute situation,” Naperville North coach Sean Drendel said of Brown, who finished eight-of-12 passing for 94 yards and three interceptions. “He did some good things, but (Naperville Central) played really well. They ran the ball well. Randolph knocked off some big runs and we didn’t tackle very well.”

Drendel declined to disclose the extent of Gehr’s injury, just saying “he got banged up a little bit.”

Two of Randolph’s three touchdowns in the fourth quarter were set up by a pair of interceptions of Brown by senior defensive back Pat Clark.

“I just got to my drop like my coach always teaches me. My D-line helped out a lot, made the quarterback really quick,” said Clark, who added that they were able to zero in on Brown a little bit more as a passer, whereas Gehr was more of a running threat.

On his short-lived night for the Huskies, Gehr ran for 67 yards while throwing for just 12 yards on two-of-five passing.

Reaching the playoffs after a one-year hiatus courtesy of its best offensive showing in four weeks, Naperville Central can look towards next week against West Chicago with playoff seeding in mind while looking to build off a well-rounded performance at the right time.

“Finally, we were able to break open some plays. Matt got out into some space and made some plays,” Naperville Central coach Mike Stine said. “It was nice to see.”

In the losing cause, Puknaitis had 122 yards and three touchdowns on 23 carries for Naperville North (5-3, 4-2 DuPage Valley).

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